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Persona 4: Arena
Persona 4: Arena, known in Japan as Persona 4- The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena, is a 2D Fighting Game developed by Arc System Works and published by Atlus, crossing over the cast and plots of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 and Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4. Playable Characters * Akihiko Sanada: The Two-Fisted Protein Junkie * Aigis: The Heartless Armed Angel * Chie Satonaka: The Carnivore Who's Discarded Womanhood * Elizabeth: The Lethal Elevator Attendant * Kanji Tatsumi: The Bloodcurdling Beefcake Emperor * Labrys: Yasogami's Steel Council President * Mitsuru Kirijo: The Imperious Queen of Executions * Naoto Shirogane: The 2000 IQ Killjoy Detective * Shadow Labrys: The Raging Bull of Destruction * Teddie: The Beast in Heat * Yosuke Hanamura: Captain Ressentiment * Yu Narukami: The Sister-Complex Kingpin of Steel * Yukiko Amagi: The Unconquerable Snow Black Gameplay Like other Arc System fighting game franchises, Guilty Gear and BlazBlue, Persona 4: Arena is a fast-paced game with an emphasis on building large combos and a high number of mobility options. There are four primary attack buttons: the Light Attack, the Strong Attack, the Persona Attack and the Persona Rush. The first two are basic light and heavy fighting game techniques, but the latter are built around a unique "Persona System", meant to better replicate the use of Personas in the mainline JRPG installments. In order to deal much higher damage and cast magic, Persona Users must summon their Personas during combos or for attacks, but many of these attacks leave them vulnerable or can be punished easily if not used well- breaking one of the punished player's Persona tarot cards. Once the Persona has been struck five times, the player enters "Persona Break", where they lose access to all of their Persona moves and abilities for a period of time, leaving them significantly handicapped. In addition to a number of normals, special commands and Persona abilities, each character possesses a Reversal Action, a special attack that sacrifices a small amount of health to perform an ability that can change the tide of battle if used correctly, like an invincible counterattack, as well as an instant kill super move which can only be used in the final round, ending the match in a cinematic final blow. Persona 4 Arena imports a number of JRPG mechanics into the fighting game systems as well. As players fight and take damage, they build SP, which can be used for special skills. 50 SP allows players to use one of their notable and high-damaging special attacks, while 100 allows players to use their instant kill move. When a player's health enters critical condition, they enter an Awakened State, which instantly gifts them 50 SP and increases their damage output, as well as giving them access to a new special attack. The game also features Status Ailments such as Confusion and Paralysis which can be obtained from being hit with certain techniques or for trying to spend too much time running away instead of fighting- though the effects of the Ailment are nullified with a single hit on the enemy. The All-Out Attack skill makes an appearance in the form of the new one-character All-Out Rush, which performs a similar rushdown, damaging launcher into the air. In order to make the game more accessible to players who do not play many quick-paced games like the fighting genre but are still fans of the Persona series and characters, Persona 4: Arena also introduces the concept of Auto-Combos. By continuing to press the Light Attack button, the player will automatically perform a complex combo with no additional input or quarter circles needed, ending in a special attack assuming the SP is high enough to cast it. To ensure competitive balance, Auto-Combos deal less damage overall than properly inputting the commands naturally, and are not guaranteed hits, as skilled players are able to escape them and counter attack. Another attempt to appeal to this fanbase is in the game's story mode, which is set up as a Visual Novel instead of a fighting game, with very few actual battles in it throughout. Development Persona 4 Arena made its debut announcement in an August 2011 issue of Famitsu magazine, where it was confirmed as a partnership between Guilty Gear developer Arc System Works and Atlus. Persona 4's director, Katsura Hashino, personally opened negotiations with the fighting game developer as he had wanted to make a 2D fighting game with the characters, and the rest of the Persona team agreed they wanted to spread out and create new games and genres than just JRPGs. Throughout the development, both teams have publicly applauded the other's work ethic, leading to the decision to make the game a canonical sequel to both Persona 3 and Persona 4. While the game made its debut in Japanese arcades early in 2012, the game wouldn't reach a console release in Japan and North America for a few months. The game became notorious for being one of the only PlayStation 3 titles to be region locked, as a financial security measure by Atlus, which became a problem as the delayed release of the game in Europe lead to the region having to wait a year before getting the same game as the rest of the world. The game is also notable as the only installment in the Persona series not exclusively available on the Playstation system. The game was initially released in Arcades, and was released on the Xbox 360 alongside the Playstation 3, though the Xbox 360 version of the game compared unfavorable to the PS3 version, featuring framerate issues and a worse NET Code. Plot Three years after the events of Persona 3, the former members of SEES have formed a new group to fight the Shadows- the Shadow Operatives, an enigmatic group cloaked by the team's leader, Mitsuru Kirijo's position of power in the influential Kirijo Company. When Mitsuru boards a Plane alongside some valuable Kirijo cargo, the Shadow Operatives lead by the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon robot, Aigis, are deployed to stop a team of hijackers that have attempted to take the plane. While Aigis is able to suppress the hijackers, she and Mitsuru quickly discover the motivation behind the act- the theft of one of Aigis' "sister units", the Fifth Generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon, Labrys. Joined by their old friend, Akihiko Sanada, the Shadow Operatives begin to hunt for Labrys, tracking her to the Inaba region. Meanwhile, Yu Narukami is planning his return trip to Inaba to celebrate Golden Week with the Investigation Team, his group of friends he made and lead into battle against the Shadows attempting to cover their world with a deathly fog and save the world when he stated in the town over the last school year. Before the Investigation Team has a chance to celebrate their reunion, the televised Midnight Channel, a TV show that had previously been used to see the victims of an attempted serial killer they had assembled to stop previously, suddenly returns showing a new program- The P01 Grand Prix, a fighting tournament with the competitors members of the Investigation Team, seemingly lead by Teddie and hosted by Rise, two members of the Team that had been missing-in-action. Confused, the Investigation Team enters action once again: entering the TV World to confront this Teddie and discover what was going on. Inside the TV World, the two groups meet and interact, discovering that they had to follow the rules of this cruel new Teddie's tournament. When two friends met each other in the TV World, they were manipulated to hear horrible things being spoken by the other to goad them into fighting, with only the victor being able to move on. Despite this, the Team's bonds of friendship were too powerful and they quickly progressed through the Shadow World's recreation of Inaba's Yasogami High School. They met the mysterious Student Council President, and soon realized that she was Labrys, and that she had been forced a long time ago, to kill all of her Fifth Generation Sister Units, a traumatic experience that drove her to try and forget that she was ever a machine and pretend to be a normal high school girl. Confronting General Teddie revealed that he was not the Investigation Team's beloved Shadow companion, but instead Labrys' Shadow, who sought to make everyone else kill their friends to understand her suffering. Protecting Labrys from her berserk self, the Investigation Team and Shadow Operatives reached out to her, claiming that they were her friends and that they would help and accept her for who she was- but that she needed to accept that the Shadow was truly a part of her as well. Finally accepting herself for who she truly was, Labrys awakens her heart and her Shadow transforms into her true Persona for the first time. However, in their efforts to find Labrys, both teams had forgotten that she had been pushed into the TV World by an outside party, who hijacks her remotely and taunts the teams before attacking, forcing them to defend themselves with all their might until they are able to free her of the mysterious master mind's control. Thinking that the Hacker might have connections to the Kirijo Group, Mitsuru asks Yu to let her and the Shadow Operatives deal with the problem going forward, recruiting Labrys into their ranks, but Narukami decides to reform the Investigation Team anyway- knowing that the Hacker had identified them by name and had set up the tournament with previous knowledge of who they were. As Aigis, Akihiko and Mitsuru prepare to leave Inaba, Labrys calls the Investigation Team and gives a tearful goodbye to her new friends, promising that she would return to them when they discovered and stopped the mastermind. Reception Persona 4 Arena received mostly positive reviews from critics, with the PS3 version of the game holding a Metacritic score of 86, and the Xbox 360 version possessing a Metacritic of 83. Critics praised the fusion of Atlus' talents for storytelling and artistic style with Arc System Work's flashy fighting system and tournament-level competitive depth, citing it as the two developers bringing out the best in each other. The game's solid NET code was also highlighted in reviews, with critics mentioning near flawless play with players from other sides of the world without trouble. DLC * Persona 4 Arena: Additional Colors * Persona 4 Arena: Glasses Pack * Navigation #1 (Teddie) * Navigation #2 (Yosuke) * Navigation #3 (Mitsuru) * Navigation #4 (Aigis) * Navigation #5 (Fuuka) * Navigation #6 (Nanako) * Challenge No. 30 Demonstration Category:Fighting Category:Games Category:Arcade Releases Category:Playstation 3 Releases Category:Xbox 360 Releases